PESHAWAR: A bomb blast killed six anti-Taliban militia fighters in Pakistan`s northwestern tribal belt on Saturday and wounded five others, officials said.

The remote controlled attack hit a checkpoint manned by volunteers from an anti-Taliban militia in Mohmand, a tribal district close to the Afghan border and some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Peshawar, an official said.

"It was a remote control bomb, six volunteers of anti Taliban peace committee have been killed and five wounded," Maqsud Hasan, a senior government official in Mohmand told AFP by telephone.

Javed Khan, another administrative official in the area, also confirmed the incident.

Pakistani authorities are providing arms and money to anti-Taliban militias -- which are also called peace committees.

On Wednesday, dozens of armed militants attacked a mosque and a police checkpoint in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing two anti-Taliban fighters, police said.

Attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have targeted soldiers, government officials and civilians across nuclear-armed Pakistan since government troops besieged a radical mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.

Much of the violence has been concentrated in the northwest and border areas with Afghanistan.

BDST: 1400 HRS, August 21, 2010